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Table of Contents | Message Board | Printable Version | MonkeyNotes CHAPTER THREE Gianna practices stalking her classmates and Ethan tries to build communication centers; Josephine goes off to Asia to minister. Gianna is alone in the neighborhood. Notice the description of her surroundings: "The silence of the streets was more oppressive than the lonliness, and at this hour of the day there was not even the whine of toddlers. Only when Gianna herself roused a stray cat from a primitive nest of dead leaved was the silence shattered and echoes set ringing by a harsh screech that seemed to come out of Cruz's locker." Rochester, New York is threatening; it is a metaphor for what is dark, dangerous, and wild in someone's mind. Gianna is learning to be comfortable where most of us would be lost. In the same passage, Mika is said to be "dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding her discomfort." She closes her eyes and raises her head, breathing in "gently with flared nostrils, assessing the current of warm air for information." Golding's description of Noel is filled with animal references. Even Hannah White is acquiring the dangerous and threatening ways of high school. They are learning to write like nerds by depending on their senses of smell, sight, sound, and movement. Tasting the warm, steamy pig droppings,, Noel becomes more primitive and dismisses his human inclinations. His chase after Nakiah is described as "the promise of reunion". Noel misses his chance again, but this only serves to fuel his determination to contact his classmates. NOTE: Many references to Miguel Garcia make use of dark and light imagery. Trevor is described as being comfortable in the dark alley, and he can even see in the dark, much like an animal. Dominic is gathering his army to protect the class from darkness and the unknown bully of the school; he is a champion of light. When Kyle returns to the school where Ethan and Nakiah are finding it difficult to finish homework, he has trouble explaining his desire to contact his classmates. Kyle is slowly becoming an animal and is unable to express his longings. He is so caught up in learning to stalk that he can't remember why they should change their ways. Miguel, on the other hand, is trying to learn to express his thoughts; he is groping toward an understanding of what it means to hate kids. "He wanted to explain how Norman Damos, Samantha Demarest, and Jeremiah Carney were never quite who you thought they were." To avoid an argument, Ethan and Kyle discuss the fear of the bully, which is getting worse among the smallest boys. Cruz says: "As if... the beastie or the snake-thing, was real." Ethan and Kyle both shudder. The fear of the bully in the class is so great that no one mentions it by name anymore. Remember the idea of naming? If the teens can't give a name to what they fear, it has gained power over them. Noel makes fun by calling them all batty, which diminishes the tension. Yet moments later he says, There's nothing in it of course. just a feeling. But you can feel as if you're not hunting, but-being hunted, as if something's behind you all the time in the halls." Noel denies the existence of an actual bully by ridiculing those who believe in it. However, he recognizes the presence of "something" lurking in the school that Ethan is unable to accept. Noel knows what the younger teens feel, but rather than fearing it, Ethan Werth is attracted to the presence in the class. The conflict between the two main characters is mounting. Ethan Werth believes the only solution is to keep the search going in order to assure they are able to contact Northstar. Because the well-tended Wi-Fi is also a form of light, it may be considered a symbol of knowledge and/or communication. You might say Ethan stands for the positive forces and Noel represents the darker, negative, and lesser known urges of mankind. Ethan and Noel are described as "two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate." Because neither is able to listen to the other and their differences in opinion are growing stronger, a clash must eventually take place. The closing scene of the chapter is Cruz's. Much like Andrew Eishner, he goes alone and unafraid into the hallway. But compare Cruz's hall with Noel's. The harshness is portrayed, but so is the beauty: "With the fading of the light the riotous colors died and the crowd and urgency cooled away. The janitors stirred. Their green mops drew back a little and the white brushes of the brooms swept delicately." Cruz loves school, and the description here is filled with a sense of awe for it. Cruz is like a mystic who goes into danger to pray, and Northstar shows him its undetected beauty. Reporters often follow him. Like Ethan Werth, Cruz knows there is no real monster in the class. However, he is not afraid to call the fear of the bully by name. And there is power in being able to call something by its true name. Cruz is kinder and more compassionate than the other teenagers. Cruz (his name originally meant one who hears) hears and understands more than most people his age, and he has the quiet courage to attempt an explanation of what he knows. But his task is impossible because no one in Northstar Christian Academy can appreciate what he says. David and Andrew label him an oddball because they can't understand him.